How did that get there??

[John Parry]

An old french ambulance in a rural Lancashire pub car park??






Regards - John

[PeterW]

Ah! A Citroen from their corrugated iron period complete with suicide-opening doors. Love the grab handles each side of the screen. They were for the crew to hang on to when they leaned out to shout "Oy! You flamin' rubberneckers! Git ahta the flamin' way!" Only in French, of course.

Peter

[mickeyobe]

What an interesting and peculiar looking vehicle.
It looks so ------ lemony?
Why do the doors open backwards?
It would make a great chip wagon.
Mickey

[John Parry]

Haven't a clue how it got there Mickey - maybe I'll call in the pub and ask !

How on earth did you get 'lemony' ?? (Unless you mean 'It's a lemon' !)

Regards - John

[mickeyobe]

John,
Citroen/Citron and lemon.
Can you imagine those doors opening accidentally while on the highway? Or are they air brakes?
Mickey.

[heath]

Looks like it would have the aerodynamics of a house brick.

But it is a cool find. Something you don't see every day. I have seen a few Citroen's here in Sydney. In fact there is a guy who lives nearby who owns a business that specialises in working on them and pretty much restoring them to their former glory. He has two very nice specimins that he regularly uses. There is also a guy not too far away that has a couple of vintage MG's and the guy across the road has an old Plymouth that I have to photograph one day. I love old cars.

Heath

[rogprov]

I'm nearly certain I've seen that vehicle (one another VERY similar) down here in Gloucestershire. There's a young chap not far from me who drives an ancient Citroen 2CV AND wears John Lennon round glasses :-)

[paulatukcamera]

I am afraid I can't let this thread go on with the French winning - our national honour is at stake. ;D

The implication here is that the French build the oddest bodies on Citroen chassis.

This is absolutely not true!

This local car is absolutely unique in two ways:

1. It is a Citroen 2cv with one wheel missing
2. it is built entirely of wood!









As you know after the recent battle at Agincourt, the British will never surrender to the French. You Americans, Canadians & Australians be the judge - have we not won this round for oddest body on a Citroen? ;D

Paul

[Randy]

Ho-le Maird! The french make ugly cars!

[mickeyobe]

We need more Ugly entries.
Mickey

[John Parry]

Almost speechless Paul - that anyone would try to build anything on a 2CV chassis, although it is a french style 3 wheeler with the single wheel at the back (a la Morgan).

Also, that someone would take so much trouble - it's obviously a labour of love - to build such a lovely body on such a foundation of sand!!

Mickey - are you sure you're not just a troublemaker!! (LOL) Sounds a good idea to me - let's go for ugly!

Regards - John

[mickeyobe]

John,
Indeed I am.
A wooden chassis!!! Can you imagine the slivers resulting from a fender bender.
Mickey

[wolves3012]

johnrparry said:

An old french ambulance in a rural Lancashire pub car park??


Regards - John

I can answer that - it belongs to a Citroen enthusiast and can be seen at various rallies and events. I have several tranparencies of this vehicle somewhere! It's a Citroen H van, and was indeed an ambulance in its working life. The suicide doors were not "air-brakes" - an H van never goes fast enough to need that!

The H van, like most Citroens, was a very clever piece of design, with a huge flat floor area at low height (easy to load). The suspension is torsion bars beneath the floor, and the wheelbase is about 2" different between left and right because of this. The entire engine and transmission is on a subrame at the front, held on by (IIRC) 4 bolts.

[wolves3012]

mickeyobe said:

John,
Indeed I am.
A wooden chassis!!! Can you imagine the slivers resulting from a fender bender.
Mickey

Morgan cars were, and AFAIK still are, made with a chassis fabricated from ash (the tree!)

[wolves3012]

johnrparry said:

Almost speechless Paul - that anyone would try to build anything on a 2CV chassis, although it is a french style 3 wheeler with the single wheel at the back (a la Morgan).

Also, that someone would take so much trouble - it's obviously a labour of love - to build such a lovely body on such a foundation of sand!!

Mickey - are you sure you're not just a troublemaker!! (LOL) Sounds a good idea to me - let's go for ugly!

Regards - John

With respect, the 2CV chassis is an extremely clever piece of design and was developed over some time to be light and strong. A foundation of rust, perhaps, if not well protected.

As the owner of a 2CV (original bodied!), mine's lasted 17 years and got through 17 salt-laden british winters. The engine has survived 150,000 miles with absolutley nothing done besides oil/oil filter/plug changes and is still going strong. Beat that! Simple it is, crude it's not. When you can find me another engine built to such fine tolerances that it has ZERO gaskets and only a handful of seals, let me know. I know of no-one who has actually worn one of these engines without severe neglect.

Sorry if I come over as rather defensive, but those who knock this design generally do so from a lack of having examined it closely. To quote the respected critic L.J.K. Setright: "Citroen went one step further and made it proof against criticism" (AFAIK he never reviewed any other engine design without finding fault).

If you want ugly, however, try the Citroen Ami 6. Once voted the world's ugliest car (it's an A-series, sharing basically the same chassis and engine as a 2CV) and once France's best-selling car.